


ready to go

by alswiffy (lunahui)



Category: NCT (Band), NCT Dream
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Road Trips, Summer, Texting, boys being dumb, everyones got lowkey issues, nothing too serious
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-02-04 09:01:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18601324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunahui/pseuds/alswiffy
Summary: “I don’t know how you do it,” Jeno says, “keep up with all these horny guys.”“It’s just a back and forth.” Hyuck shrugs. “They say shit and I have a mental list of scripted responses. I’m like those annoying people who phone you up and ask for money, accept its love and attention instead. And maybe also money.”--jeno's boring, donghyuck says, he wouldn't know fun if it hit him with its car. jeno decided to prove him wrong by driving across the country and falling in love. what could go wrong?





	1. a vision with nowhere to go

**Author's Note:**

> characters are aged up the tinest bit, supposed to have just finished first year of university. 
> 
> yes this is set in england. i suck at geography okay pls forgive me.

“Bro, dude, mate, listen to me right now.”

Jeno puts both hands on Donghyuck’s cheeks and holds him in place. “You’re such a fucking idiot.”

Donghyuck scoffs and shoves him away, pulling on the collar of his uniform jacket as if to brush off Jeno’s presence. “Fuck off Jeno.”

“I’m right!” Jeno says, leaning back in his chair and knocking his knees on the underside of his checkout. “Am I or am I not correct?”

“You’re an asshole is what you are.” Donghyuck snips, wandering over to help an old man who’s attempting to win a battle of wits against the self service machine. Jeno smiles.

It’s July, and the middle aged man at the kiosk desk buying cigarettes is very shirtless. He’s only wearing shorts and flip flops despite the late evening, it must be warm out still.

Jeno sighs.

His uniform sticks to the back of his neck as Jeno looks around the supermarket, almost devoid of customers, wishing he was literally anywhere else.

Like his bedroom for example. Windows open, air flowing, lights low as to not attract insects. All his plantlife has accompanied him home from university for the summer, so almost every inch of shelving or windowsill either has a succulent or a stretching houseplant occupying it. He could lie on his bed and just listen to music, too relaxed to move.

Donghyuck would call him boring, but Jeno thinks it’s important to do nothing sometimes.

“I’m right.” Jeno grins slyly when Donghyuck saunters back over.

“Dickhead, shut up. I know what I’m doing this time.”

“Do you?” Jeno raises an eyebrow. “Just like last time?”

Donghyuck glares at him and Jeno just shrugs, he knows they’re not supposed to talk about last time. Donghyuck sticks his tongue out in retaliation.

Jeno eyes him with a sliver of actual concern and Hyuck sighs.

“Whatever, it’s just a bit of fun anyways.” He shrugs.

“I know, you idiot.” Jeno rolls his eyes and smiles. “You’re such a little heartbreaker.”

Hyuck grins back at him. “Did you see those abs though? How could I not? I could surf on them.”

“Don’t be weird.” Jeno laughs, throwing his pen at Hyuck’s head.

They both turn to the door as a group of teenagers wander in, and Hyuck shakes his head as two of them split off and head straight to the alcohol isle.

“Jeno!”

Startling a little, he sits up in his chair, pulling his eyes away from where the teens had disappeared and fixing on his rapidly approaching line manager. Donghyuck quickly retreats to the self serve area.

“Hey Kun.” Jeno smiles, trying to disguise his obvious lack of interest in his job. Kun is new, and he seems pretty chill so far, but complete disinterest is not a key employable skill.

“Do you know where the keys to the security room are?” Kun asks.

“Should just be hanging up in the key cupboard.”

“Yeah that’s what I thought.” Kun sighs, running a hand through his hair. “Fucking Taeil must have moved them.”

Ah yes, Taeil, their elusive nights manager, the only manager who had been there before Jeno and somehow has not been fired.

“Oh, he should have left it on one of the flat top cages out the back then.” Jeno supplies.

“What? Why there?”

Jeno shrugs, why does Taeil do anything the way he does?

“Just how he does it.” Jeno says unhelpfully. Kun looks close to saying more, but cuts himself off with a shake of his head, walking away.

“He’s gotta get used to it eventually.”

Jeno inclines his head left to peer at Donghyuck, whos now leaning on the wooden barrier separating Jeno’s checkout from the self serve area, head leaning on one palm. The old man he was helping has finally left, and the only customers left in the store are the teens, now being eyed suspiciously by Kun.

“Or he’ll just complain to management and get him fired.” Jeno shrugs.

“I don’t know if Taeil can be fired, I think he’s some kinda eldritch being.”

“I’m not even sure if he’s real.”

Hyuck snorts, pushing away from the barrier, taking the checkouts keys out of his pocket and twirling them in his fingers.

“I think I’ve seen him, like, once.” Hyuck starts to throw the keys up in the air and catch them again. “Eating crackers out the back.”

“Crackers?” Jeno asks with a laugh. “What like, with cream cheese?”

“No mate. Dry.”

“Raw.” Jeno says, Hyuck snorts again.

Hyuck stops throwing the keys, and shoves them back in his pocket. He tilts his head back, staring at the ceiling, and sighs heavily. With a roll of his shoulders Hyuck pulls his hand through his thick hair, and Jeno watches, the silver hue losing some of its vibrance under the lights of the shop floor.

The sun is sinking beneath the horizon outside, and the one streetlamp in the car park has flickered on.

“I got a message from the ex again last night.” Hyuck says, breaking Jeno from his thoughts.

“God.” Jeno rolls his eyes. “What did he say this time?”

“The usual shit.” Hyuck says, stretching his arms above his head and yawning. “About how he fucked up, wanting me back, etcetera.”

“Just block him.”

Hyuck doesn’t reply, simply shrugging his shoulders and tilting his head to the left slightly.

“That’s no fun, though.”

“You and I have very different perceptions of ‘fun’.”

Laughing a little, Hyuck turns to face Jeno properly, dropping his head to meet the others eyes.

“Have you ever had fun in your entire life, Jeno?” Hyuck asks, going back to lean on the barrier. He cocks a hip out, raises an eyebrow, and Jeno recognises the smirk playing on his lips as bad news.

“Sure, we have fun all the time.”

“Driving around night isn’t _fun_ -fun.” Hyuck rolls his eyes.

“Shut up you love it.”

“Sure I do. It’s perfectly ‘nice’ and you’re a great bro but I’m talking about good proper american movie _fun._ ” Hyuck grins at him. “I mean like breaking and entering, kissing people you don’t know, talking about your feelings in a field until 5am. Shit you’re supposed to do when you’re young.”

“Sounds like anxiety.” Jeno crosses his arms.

“That’s your perception of it.”

“That’s my _experience_ of it.”

Hyuck scoffs at that. “What experience?”

“You don’t know my life.” And the second it comes out of Jeno’s mouth he knows it’s not true.

“Fuck off. You messaged me the other day because you dropped a hot dog on the floor, I know everything exciting happening in your life.”

Jeno sighs. “Hyuck, lay off.”

“Alright, alright.” Donghyuck says, raising his hands. “I don’t wanna pressure you man, I just don’t want you to waste your twenties.”

Jeno rolls his eyes, how many times has he heard his friend say that? He thinks about all the party invitations Donghyuck used to him in first year, invitations to visit each others universities since they were only half an hour away, invitations to hang out when they were home for christmas, easter. Shame pulls a little on his shoulders.

“Sorry.” Jeno mumbles. “You know I don’t like that kind of stuff.”

Hyuck notices he’s hit a nerve and reaches over Jeno’s checkout to ruffle his hair.

“Shut up babe, I know that. We’ve been friends for what? Three years? You must realise I’m just being an annoying asshole by now.”

Jeno allows him a small smile as he bats his hand away. “You _are_ pretty damn annoying.”

“That’s the spirit.” Hyuck grins. “Sorry for pushing, I just think sometimes if you want to learn to swim you gotta throw yourself in the deep end.”

“Sounds dumb.”

“Doing dumb shit is part of learning, how do you think I ended up so smart?” Hyuck shoots him a lopsided grin, and Jeno takes this as an indication that the deep chat is over.

“You must be a fuckin’ genius then.” Jeno shoots back, and Hyuck laughs.

“Top of my class in dumbass university.”

“I’m so proud.”

Hyuck throws a screwed up receipt at him, but it barely makes it a foot before sadly floating to the ground.

“God,” Hyuck says, staring at the receipt, “that’s a mood.”

Jeno hums, nodding his head solemnly. Hyuck’s phone pings and he raises his eyes.

“Washboard abs or creepy ex?” Hyuck grins at him, pulling his phone out. “What do you think?”

“Ten on creepy ex.”

Hyuck opens the notification and instantly bursts into laughter. “Oh shit! Dick pick alert!”

“No way.”

“Yes way, holy shit.” Hyuck squints at his phone a little. “You were right though, creepy ex.”

“Fucks sake.” Jeno laughs, Hyuck grins and tucks his phone away again.

“I don’t know how you do it,” Jeno says, “keep up with all these horny guys.”

“It’s just a back and forth.” Hyuck shrugs. “They say shit and I have a mental list of scripted responses. I’m like those annoying people who phone you up and ask for money, accept its love and attention instead. Maybe also money.”

“Sounds like work.”

“You never know Jeno,” Hyuck grins, “maybe your mystery man is out there waiting for you.”

“Doubt it.”

“Well you’re not gonna find him by sitting behind this checkout your whole life. He’s not just gonna walk through that door.” Hyuck says, gesturing to the front of the supermarket.

Both of their eyes flick over, as if maybe this is an american teen movie and some hot muscly guy is about to swoop in and take Jeno on a whirlwind adventure.

Nothing happens.

Of course.

Jeno sighs, of course. Hyuck opens his mouth to say something else dumb and - and freezes.

Maybe, this is a movie.

A comedy.

They both watch as Na fucking Jaemin walks in.

“Oh shit.” Hyuck wheezes out before bursting into laughter.

“For fucks sake.” Jeno groans quietly, and Hyuck’s laughter has moved from not-subtle-at-all to straight-up-hysterics.

“Oh my god.” Hyuck gasps through laughs. “Thank you universe for that timing.”

“I hate you.” Jeno mumbles from where he’s buried his face in his hands.

“Don’t hate me Jeno, hate God, he’s the one taking the piss out of you.”

Choosing to ignore Hyuck, Jeno chances a peek through his fingers, watching as Jaemin practically skips into one of the isles, followed by a guy Jeno doesn’t recognise pushing a trolley.

Jaemin looks good, that the irritating part. He’s wearing some kind of vintage style deep red graphic tee, tucked into some ripped up straight leg blue jeans, fully living that grungy skater aesthetic that Jeno knows he loves. His mousey brown hair has gotten a little wilder, and Jeno assumes from the way its curling under his ears that it hasn’t been cut in a while. It’s hard to tell from a distance, but Jeno thinks he’s got a couple of new ear piercings, and maybe a wrist tattoo.

“Stop fucking staring.” Hyuck says, breaking his concentration.

“I’m not.” Jeno lies, covering his face with his hands again.

“Oh my god.” Hyuck says. “You’re so embarrassing.”

“Shut up.”

“Sorry, this is just really funny.”

Jeno regrets ever telling Hyuck about his dumb crush on Na Jaemin, a kid who he’d been partnered with in Spanish for about two weeks years ago and then never spoken to again.

“ _El drama._ ” Hyuck says, and Jeno wants to sink into the floor.

“Shut your mouth.” Jeno pretty much whines.

It's not even like he has a crush on Jaemin anymore, it's just this dumb inside joke that him and his friends have about Jeno's ‘long lost love’, something Hyuck loves to bring up whenever they talk about Jeno's despairing romantic life.

“Oh.” Hyuck brings a hand to his heart. “It’s so tragic, you could have been his unwashed skater bride.”

“I actually hate you.”

It’s not even that deep, Hyuck just likes to make fun of him at every given opportunity. Jeno is pretty sure Jaemin doesn’t even know his name. Actually, he’s pretty sure Jaemin has completely forgotten about his existence, considering he never got that Instagram follow back months ago.

The phone Jeno is definitely not supposed to have on him buzzes in his pocket, and he briefly glances around. Him, Hyuck, the girl behind the kiosk desk and a couple of staff stacking shelves are the only people on the shop floor right now, so he deems it safe to check.

 

 **sunshineee**  
      lmao yall guess who just walked into work

 

Instantly, Jeno's head whips up to glare at Hyuck. His friends eyes are already on him, laughter twinkling in his irises. Jeno wants to kill him there and then, but he’s distracted by more messages coming through on his phone.

 

 **moomin**  
      oho?  
      who?  
**lilasshole**  
      for the love of god please tell me its davina mccall  
**moomin**  
      chenle.  
      why the fuck would it be davina mccall.  
**lilasshole**  
      why the fuck not??? you dont know her life  
**sunshineee**  
      who the fuck?  
**lilasshole**  
      that lady from big brother on channel 4  
**moomin**  
      i know she doesnt shop at our fuckin local  
**satanspawn**  
      davina mccall lives in kent  
**lilasshole**  
      ????  
**moomin**  
      thanks jisung u funky lil weirdo  
**satanspawn**  
      np  
**sunshineee**  
      ANYWAYS  
      as i was saying  
      guess  
**lilasshole**  
      well now i know its not davina mccall im gonna be disappointed whoever  
**moomin**  
      tell us  
**sunshineee**  
      its none other….  
      than jeno's one true love  
**lilasshole**  
      LMAO  
      THE RETURN  
**moomin**  
      omg jeno ur garbage prince has come home from war

 

Jeno shoves his phone back in his pocket, trying to ignore his idiot friends, who he’s regretting introducing to Donghyuck now more than ever. Instead, he returns to glaring at Hyuck, who he can see giggling as he not-so-subtly types away, assumedly spamming memes back and forth with Chenle.

“I hate you all.” Jeno mumbles, and Hyuck laughs.

“You can’t mute our friendship Jeno.”

“I can fucking try.”

Hyuck quirks an eyebrow, and Jeno knows that if this boy is anything, he’s persistent. Hyuck types something into the chat and Jeno's phone immediately starts rapid fire buzzing.

Jeno sighs, and concedes almost instantly. Fear of being caught by managers forgotten, he opens his phone to find Hyuck and Chenle pinging the screaming rat meme in the chat.

 

 **nofunallowed**  
      fucking stop omg  
**lilasshole**  
      HE RETURNETH  
      CEASEFIRE MEN  
**moomin**  
      hyuck said u thought u could mute us jeno  
      how could u say such a thing  
**lilasshole**  
      MUTE THIS BITCH  
      [img]  
      [img]  
      [img]  
**nofunallowed**  
      i will fucking ban you  
**lilasshole**  
      pls no sir  
      im on my knwees  
      im bwegging  
**moomin**  
      chenle youre actually disgusting  
**lilasshole**  
      this is CYBERBULLYING  
**sunshineee**  
      ANYWAYS  
      jeno r u gonna talk to him  
**nofunallowed**  
      you know im three feet away from you  
**lilasshole**  
      answer the fuckign question JENO  
**nofunallowed**  
      he doesnt even know me???? yall are out of control  
**lilasshole**  
      but,,, the DRAMA,,, the ROMANCE,,,,,  
**moomin**  
      i thought jaemin moved away anyways? didnt he go down south or something?  
**satanspawn**  
      he moved to brighton to go to bim three years ago  
**lilasshole**  
      ol reliable jisung with the weirdly accurate info  
      what the feck is bim  
**moomin**  
      ohhh i knew he dropped out but i didnt know where he went  
      its brighton institute of music u idiot  
**lilasshole**  
      SHUT UP RENJUN UR SO MEAN  
**sunshineee**  
      point is HES BACK  
      and jeno can finally make his move  
**nofunallowed**  
      this is so dumb  
      i hate you guys so much  
      we havent spoken in like five years  
**satanspawn**  
      six  
**nofunallowed**  
      EXACTLY jisung thank you  
**sunshineee**  
      come on jeno  
      this is ur chance  
**lilasshole**  
      DO IT  
      and tell us about ALL THE WILD SEX you have

* **nofunallowed** has kicked **lilasshole** from the chat*

 **moomin**  
      finally some good fucking silence

 

With that, Jeno mutes the chat, and shoves his phone back in his pocket. He knows this is all some long running inside joke that’s been blown way out of proportion, but it doesn’t stop him from feeling awkward as hell as he watches Jaemin and his friend roll up and down the isles, grabbing stuff from the shelves seemingly at random.

The friend’s really cute too, also rocking the skater fashion. Another graphic tee, this time a washed out purple with a cool skeleton print on the back, tucked into a pair of black denim shorts. He’s sporting a black cap with rings on one side of the brim, ankle high cat socks peeking out of his vans.

Honestly, he looks like he just stepped out of Urban Outfitters, and Jeno would be convinced that he was some kinda model if he hadn’t just tripped over his own feet trying to whip the trolley around a corner too fast.

Hyuck throws another bit of receipt paper at him, and this time it donks him on the forehead. Jeno turns to glare, but all he receives in return is Hyuck’s waggling eyebrows.

His friend’s hot, he mouths obviously.

Jesus Christ, the boy’s insatiable.

The gaggle of teens comes to Jeno’s checkout, taking his attention from Hyuck’s suggestive winking. He checks all their ID’s, obviously, and even though they look about fifteen they are of age. Jeno almost has a stroke when he reads the year of birth, and then he has a full on mental breakdown when he realises that these kids are eighteen. Fuck, he’s old.

“Fuck.” He says to Hyuck once they’ve left. “I’m old.”

“Shut up, we’re both old.”

“Can’t believe it, where did the time go.”

Hyuck gestures to their workplace around them, and Jeno sinks his head.

“That’s so sad.” He mumbles, Hyuck just laughs.

Jeno glances at the clock, 9:46, thank Christ. He eyes the girl at the kiosk desk as she makes her nightly ‘were gonna shut soon everyone get the fuck out’ call over the tannoy. Jeno hasn’t seen anyone else come in, so it must be Jaemin and his friend left. Hyuck starts to shut down one of the self serve machines, unlocking the door to the machinery and taking out the note receptor.

“They better hurry up.” Hyuck muses over the door of the machine, Jeno nods.

“You wanna drive after this?”

“What else do we do after a shutdown?” Hyuck says into the machinery, attempting to retrieve the coupons.

“You have a point.”

“It’s Tuesday though, Maccies will close at midnight.”

“We’ll get there before goddamn midnight.”

“Not if you keep refusing to go above 35.” Hyuck stands, locking up the machine once more and stuffing all of the money into a plastic bag. Jeno huffs indignantly.

“Fuck you! Just because I don’t want diet coke all over my dick from going around a corner too fast.”

A surprised laugh from his left catches his attention, and oh fuck.

That’s Na Jaemin. Standing at the end of his checkout. Listening to their conversation. Staring right at Jeno with a beautiful smile and laughing.

And, well, Na Jaemin is quite a lot to handle up close. This boy has aged like fine wine, Jeno clocks that instantly. His young teenage puppy fat is a thing of the past, jaw and cheekbones sharpened to a chiseled level, but the youthful spark is still there in his smile. It kind of softens Jeno’s heart and sets him on fire all at once. Na Jaemin was cute before, but now hes dangerous.

Jeno definitely doesn’t have a crush, though. Just a little bit of gay panic.

“Oh shit.” Jeno says gracefully, and he practically hears Hyuck’s wince. “I mean - Uh - Shit sorry I - Uh, hi! How are you! Do you want a bag?”

“Uh.” Is all Jaemin manages, and Jeno feels a flush of embarrassment run through him, this is already a mess.

“Sorry.” He says. “I’m an idiot. Let me try again.”

“Okay.” Jaemin nods. He’s still smiling, and it’s kind of irritating Jeno because it’s distractingly pretty.

“Hello.” Jeno tries to recover. “How can I help?”

“Hello.” Jaemin returns. “We’ve got all this stuff.”

He gestures to the full trolley behind him, still being pushed by his friend, and yeah they have a load of shit. Like, a weird amount of stuff for a 20 year old to be buying.

“So you do.” Jeno nods, realising how dumb he sounds as he says it. “Bags?”

“Yeah.” Jaemin grins, and god fucking damn that grin. “Thanks Jeno.”

And yeah, okay, maybe Jeno lets himself get a little breathless for a second. Maybe his brain’s instinctual reaction is ‘oh my god Na Jaemin remembers me’. And maybe hearing Jaemin say his name, standing in front of him looking like a goddamn casual fashion model with his perfect hair and 1000 watt smile, is bringing back all the reasons Jeno had that stupid crush in the first place.

And then, Jeno realises, of course Jaemin knows his name. He’s wearing a fucking name badge.

“No problem.” He manages, only a little strangled, and starts to pull bags off the end of his checkout.

Jaemin and his friend start unloading their shopping onto the belt. And, to put it politely, it kind of looks like a random assortment of crap. The first half seems to be actually sensible; toiletries, vegetables, a loaf of bread, this is someone’s weekly shop. The second half looks like they went up and down the isles grabbing every third item they passed.

“The first lots mine.” The unknown boy says, moving to the end of the checkout and taking the bags from Jeno. Jeno nods and tries to avoid Hyuck’s gaze.

“But yeah,” Jaemin’s friend says, and it takes a second for Jeno to realise that he’s not talking to him, “if we finish up around 1am then we should be good for tomorrow.”

“Sweet,” Jaemin grins, lifting more bananas that one growing boy needs onto the belt. “How long do you think the drive will take?”

The guy shrugs, and Jeno winces as he watches him try to shove a two pack of frozen burgers in with his loose veg.

“Probably about three hours, depends if that roads still closed.”

“Hopefully she’ll make it.”

“Hey,” the other guy says, stopping packing to point a finger at Jaemin, “that’s my baby you’re talking about.”

“Well you’re baby’s kind of a piece of shit.”

“You’re so fucking rude.” The guy laughs. “My kids got us halfway across the country, hasn’t she?”

Jeno’s confused expression clearly isn’t subtle, because Jaemin turns to him and says, “he’s talking about his truck.”

“My child.” The guy nods, and Jeno only manages a breathless laugh because apparently he has nothing intelligent to say.

Jeno scans the guys last item and totals it up to £17.86. He asks the guy if he’s got a store card even though he obviously doesn’t, the guy pays with contactless, and then Na Jaemin is grinning at him once again.

“I promise this makes sense in context.” Jaemin says, as Jeno scans 12 packets of wet wipes through.

“Don’t tell me, it’s funnier without.” Jeno says, mentally praising himself for replying with something half smart. Jaemin laughs and Jeno kind of wants to punch him into the sun, back to his home planet.

“We’ve got a fun night planned, put it that way.” Jaemin says.

“Jeno doesn’t know what fun is.”

Apparently Hyuck has teleported to the end of his checkout just to ridicule him, and Jeno tries his hardest to suddenly gain the power off telepathy so he can psychically tell him to fuck off.

“Shut up.” He settles for instead.

Hyuck laughs, and moves to start shutting down the empty checkout behind him. “You know it’s true.”

Jaemin coos at him, and Jeno thinks his heart might stop for a second. “Why?”

“He never leaves his fucking house.” Hyuck tuts, and Jeno feels scandalised.

“That’s not true!”

“Going to work and driving around with me in the dead of night doesn’t count, Jeno.”

“Wha -” Jeno splutters. “Is this some kind of intervention?”

“That’s no way to live your life man.” Jaemin’s friend shakes his head.

Hyuck finishes up on the till and turns to stand behind Jeno, he sighs dramatically and shoots Jaemin’s friend a smile that Jeno knows means trouble. “I bet you know how to have fun.”

Oh good lord. Hyuck might be one of the worst flirts Jeno’s has the pleasure of witnessing. Shame is the one emotion Donghyuck was born without.

Jaemin doesn’t miss the terrible line either, catching Jeno’s gaze with raised eyebrows and the beginning of a laugh spreading across his face. Jeno simply mouths ‘I’m sorry’ and goes back to scanning.

But, Jaemin’s friends only response is to laugh, telling Jaemin that he’s going to go get some tobacco and then shuffling himself and all his bags over to the kiosk desk just before it shuts.

Jeno turns to Hyuck, and the look on his face makes Jeno’s day. Hyuck doesn’t get rejected, this is just fact, so watching that line just go completely over the other guys head is pretty hilarious. Hyuck splutters out a ‘wha?’ and Jeno laughs.

Donghyuck is pretty beautiful and he knows it. Yes, he’s awkward, but he’s turns it into a fantastic sense of humour. He’s adventurous, fun to be around, experienced. He knows what he’s doing. But Jeno’s never seen him more confused.

“Incredible.” Jeno mumbles, going back to scanning Jaemin’s stuff.

“Mark’s pretty oblivious.” Jaemin consoles. “I wouldn’t take it personally.”

It’s only been about three years since Jeno had met Donghyuck, and he can’t lie, he has had a crush on the other kid at one point, but he’s pretty sure everyone in their friendship group has. It only took a few months for Jeno to get over it, Hyuck’s bitchy personality had shone through and he had become an irritating brother instead. It’s still pretty refreshing to see his usual charm fall flat.

“Jeno.” Hyuck says, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Shut down your checkout for me babe.”

“What?”

With grace in his movements and his head held high, Hyuck dumps his keys in Jeno’s lap and stalks off after Jaemin’s friend - Mark. Jeno watches as Hyuck pretty much drapes himself across the kiosk desk, and he can tell by the younger boy’s waggling eyebrows that he’s giving it his all.

“I’m so sorry.” Jeno says, turning to Jaemin.

“He seems fun.”

“I guess you could call it that.”

Jaemin laughs, and Jeno thinks plants could photosynthesise off that smile. He berates his own out of control thoughts and tries to pay more attention to the back to school stationery set hes scanning through, the last item.

“He’s not gonna get through to Mark.” Jaemin says as Jeno totals him up. “He once had to go on three dates before he realised the other guy had feelings for him.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, he only noticed when Yukhei tried to make out with him at a party, he thought the dates were just ‘bro time’.”

“Damn, that would be a bit of a shock I guess.”

“Only to Mark, he’s a musical genius but he’s totally thick when it comes to this kinda shit.”

“We’ll Hyuck is incredibly forward so, that should be funny at least.”

“Unstoppable force versus immovable object.” Jaemin says.

Jeno just unashamedly grins back. Shit, Jaemin is so easy to talk to. Did they have this chemistry back when they were awkward teenagers?

Back when Jeno, Jisung and Chenle would sit in the cafeteria eating fish and chips from the shop up the road, trying to ignore the loud shouts of Renjun and his Yugioh friends Soonyoung and Seokmin, talking about their upcoming assignments and the latest episodes of Produce 101.

Before he had met Donghyuck, even. When it was just him and Jaemin in that one year class, trying to tell each other what they wanted on their pizzas in very broken Espagnol.

It was so long ago now, and Jeno can’t remember ever talking to Jaemin like this, like a normal human being. He barely remembers being able to stutter out anything coherent, tongue twisted by nervousness. Now look at him; bantering.

Jaemin pays for his stuff and gives Jeno a little wave, “see you later, Jeno.”

“Yeah, see you.”

Yes, there might be some heart fluttering involved.

Jeno watches Jaemin and Mark leave, and shakes his head to snap himself out of whatever Jaemin-induced haze has come over him. Donghyuck stalks back over to him, a vicious pout on his face.

“This is awful.” He laments as Jeno shuts down his checkout. “Nothing worked, Jeno. Not a damn thing.”

“Hilarious.” Jeno grins. “I can’t wait to tell Renjun about your failures.”

“And he was so cute.” Hyuck sighs. “He’s a music production student you know, writes his own lyrics and shit, I bet he calls his mum every other day.”

“You’re so useless.”

“I bet he gives cat food to shelters, Jeno. I bet he buys newspapers for his elderly neighbours and takes their bins out for them.”

Jeno raises an eyebrow. He’s heard Hyuck flirt before, a lot actually, but he’s never heard him be this smitten.

“And he has the cutest laugh ever Jeno, it’s like the happiness just ripples through his body, you should have seen it. I almost died on the spot.”

“Get your shit together.” Jeno says, and Hyuck narrows his eyes.

“Don’t be so rude.” He glares, attempting to swat Jeno over the head. “You’re my senior, you’re supposed to be nice to me.”

“You’re embarrassing.”

“I can’t help it, Jeno. Did you see his little smile? Did you fucking see it?”

Jeno huffs and rolls his eyes.

Tuning out Donghyuck’s ongoing word vomit, Jeno finishes up with his shutdown and packs up his stuff. They walk to the staffroom together, and Jeno has to swipe his shitty old clocking card a few extra times to get it to actually work. Hyuck leans his head on Jeno’s shoulder as he does, continuing to tell him about how Mark’s debit card had a picture of his family dog on it.

The men’s cloakroom is small, stuffy and constantly smells of bad deodorant. The bin is overflowing, and there’s a small pile of half eaten apples growing next to it. Honestly, Jeno is surprised they even get lockers in this place. Him and Hyuck share one, due to the demand being high and only five of them actually locking properly, and Jeno stuffs his work trousers in next to his spare gloves and Hyuck’s long forgotten employee birthday card.

They both change into jeans but keep their work shirts, it’s not like they’re going anywhere important but their work trousers come up a bit too high in the ass region to be comfortable enough to drive around in.

Jeno informs the group chat of Donghyuck’s infatuation as they leave, waving goodbye to the night guard as they slip under the lowering shutter.

“Fuck you.” Hyuck splutters, furiously typing away to defend his honor. It’s too late, Renjun and Chenle are already ripping him to shreds. “Can’t believe Renjun added that little asshole back into the chat, what a snake.”

Jeno just laughs, glad the focus isn’t on his awkward interactions with Jaemin for a change.

It’s a beautifully hot night, Jeno can feel himself start to sweat as soon as the humid air greets his skin. Lush greens of last week’s rolling thunderstorm still cling to the surrounding plantlife, dripping the leaves of the trees in an almost tropical hue. Starkly contrasted is the yellowing grass of playing field that resides to the left of their car park, and Jeno can hear the automatic sprinklers attempting to save the field from one of the hottest English summers in the last ten years.

Humming cicadas take up the empty audio space left by the sleeping birdsong, and if Jeno closes his eyes he can picture himself in a sweltering Thailand jungle, with less bugs.

Unfortunately, he can’t astral project himself away from Donghyuck.

“Look!” Hyuck cries, shoving his phone way to close to Jeno’s face for him to actually be able to see anything. “This little dick just called me a lovesick bitch!”

Jeno laughs at Donghyuck’s misfortune.

“I’m actually going to strangle Chenle when I see him.” Hyuck says, typing something that’s probably not too pleasant in reply.

“No way, if you could bring yourself kill him you definitely would have done it already.”

“Only a mild strangling, then. Light respiratory failure at most.”

Darkening night has fully encompassed the sky, and the one streetlight in the lot has a dying bulb that seems to be stuck on the strobe setting, so Jeno has to mash the unlock button on his car keys and use the flashing brake lights to actually locate his vehicle.

They head across the lot towards Jeno’s Fiat 500, and Jeno’s eyes slowly adjust enough to make out another car parked a few spaces over from his, two figures huddled around the bonnet.

Jeno figures out it’s a truck at the same time Donghyuck lets out an embarrassingly loud; “Mark?”


	2. you think you're ready for it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to everyone who left kudos and comments, you're all very kind <3

When Jeno was thirteen, his family had taken a holiday to the South of France. His dad had received a good sum in his tax return and his mum had suggested that the family treat themselves. On the third day of the trip they had rented a car for a day and driven to a nearby amusement park, so that Jeno and his brother would stop complaining about being bored.

It had been a pretty shitty day; the heat was overbearing humid and Jeno’s brother had made him ride the biggest rollercoaster with him just after they had stuffed their faces with cheesy nachos. The nachos had made a reappearance in the closest bin after Jeno had scrambled out of his seat, and while Jeno had cried embarrassingly loudly all he could hear was his brother asking to ride it again.

To top it all off, the rental car had broken down on the route back to the villa, trapping Jeno and his family in a sweltering heat on a busy motorway full of angry French people. Jeno remembers hearing the engine splutter as it died, a final attempt to cling to life, killed by Jeno’s dad smashing the clutch and vaguely trying for third gear.

It’s the smell that tells him that Mark’s truck is dead. It’s a thick, acrid odour, and Jeno only has to poke around under the hood for about a minute before he spots it.

“You’ve got oil leaking.” He turns to deliver the bad news to Mark, who’s hovering anxiously nearby with wide eyes.

“You’re joking.”

“Not joking.” Jeno shakes his head. “You need to call a mechanic.”

Mark breathes out a ‘fuck’ and Donghyuck coos at him.

“Hyung.” Jaemin says, looking seriously worried. “My interview.”

“Fuck. Oh _fuck._ ” Mark says. He pushes one hand back through his hair and Jeno can almost see the gears going in his head, running through all the possible solutions to this problem.

Jeno notices the increasing panic in the air and offers, “I can give you guys a lift home if you need.”

“We’re supposed to be driving back to Brighton tonight.” Jaemin says and ah, that’s pretty bad.

“Trains?” Hyuck suggests.

“Construction on the line.” Mark shakes his head. “There’s no trains running after 8pm, we knew we would be staying later so we drove up instead.”

Jaemin seems unable to form words other than ‘shit’ at the moment.

“I’m gonna call a mechanic.”

Mark pulls his phone out of his pocket and wanders slightly away from the group. He hovers under the one streetlamp, kicking vaguely at a patch of weeds creeping through the concrete, and Jeno catches Hyuck watching him unashamedly.

“You should get his number while you can.” Jeno whispers to him, snapping him out of his trance.

“Shut up.” Hyuck shoves him a little. “There’s no point anyways if he lives in Brighton.”

“You never know, he could be _the one. _”__

Hyuck scoffs at that. “I’ve known him for like five minutes.”

“Long enough to fall in love.”

“Shut up. I hate you. Literally forget I have ever spoken to you in my life.”

“Whatever, boring.” Jeno shoves his shoulder and Hyuck raises an eyebrow at him.

“Me? Boring? Haven’t we gone over this? You wouldn’t know fun if it hit you with a semi truck.”

This for once, actually annoys Jeno.

He has fun. He does! It’s just in his own way. Yeah maybe it’s not the stupid american movie bullshit Hyuck was talking about before, because honestly getting ruined every night and being an actual criminal is not as cool as TV thinks it is, but he still does fun stuff.

Okay maybe Jeno’s not spontaneous, or impulsive, or ready to step out of his comfort zone. But that’s own choice and he’s proud of that.

“I can be fun.” He mumbles, and Hyuck sticks his tongue out at him.

“Prove it.”

Heat sticks to his neck and Jeno frowns, rolling his eyes. The night’s heavy. Hyuck smirks at him and Jeno considers swatting him upside the head. He can faintly hear Mark talking on the phone in the distance.

‘Prove it’. How the fuck is he supposed to do that? And more importantly, does he even want to? Jeno hates the stereotype that fun is directly equal to recklessness and stupid decision making, but he also really, really wants to prove Donghyuck wrong.

It wouldn’t be the first time he sacrifices some moral ground to rub it in Donghyuck’s face.

His eyes drift to where Jaemin is pacing by the truck, and an idea strikes him.

This might be stupid, it probably is, but Jeno does what Hyuck would do and doesn’t think it though.

“Uh, Jaemin?” Jeno says, both Jaemin and Donghyuck turn to look at him. “I could drive you home.”

There’s a pause.

“What?” Hyuck gapes, looking honestly bewildered.

“Like, uh, back to Brighton.”

Hyuck blinks at him. “Dude, that drive takes hours.”

Jeno shrugs. “I’m not doing anything tomorrow.”

It’s only a little road trip, but it spans beyond the range of the local McDonalds so Jeno is calling it an adventure.

“Really?” Jaemin asks, his eyes so wide that Jeno actually can’t meet his gaze.

“Yeah sure.” Jeno shrugs again, playing off the fact that this will easily be the most interesting thing he does all summer.

Hyuck is looking at him with something Jeno doesn’t recognize, and it’s a little unnerving.

“That’s - that’s fucking brilliant Jeno.” Jaemin grins. “You’re saving my goddamn life here.”

Jeno laughs at that, “no problem.”

Jaemin sticks his arm out, and they end up doing that weird side hug/high five/handshake thing that guys do when they wanna hug but their masculinity gets in the way. Jeno’s heart does somersaults aways and he silently curses himself because damn, he really needs to calm down.

“Well I’m coming too.” Hyuck says, Jeno rolls his eyes.

“Knew I couldn’t escape you.”

“I’m not letting you whisk Mark halfway across the country without me.”

Jaemin laughs. Jeno sighs.

“Someone say my name?”

Mark’s walking back towards them, shoving his phone back into the pocket of his jeans. He takes off his cap and runs a hand through his hair before tucking it back on, a gesture of nervousness.

“Just talking about how handsome you are.” Hyuck grins. Jeno sighs again.

“Oh.” Mark laughs before looking at Jaemin, and Jeno can hear Hyuck’s pout. “The mechanic said he wouldn’t be here for another hour and a half because it’s late. I can call my mum and then we could maybe book a taxi? I’m really sorry about this, Jaemin.”

“It’s okay.” Jaemin grins. “Jeno’s gonna drive us.”

Mark looks just as surprised as Hyuck did, and his wide eyes and raised eyebrows makes Jeno snort a little.

“Are you sure dude?”

“Yeah, you guys need a lift and I’m not doing anything. As long as I get a little petrol money it’s all chill.”

Mark blinks once at him, and Jeno can see what Hyuck means when he calls him ‘obviously cute’.

“Really? I don’t wanna like, get in the way of your time or whatever.” Mark says, gesturing to Donghyuck.

“What?”

“Well like, your couple time, you said you were gonna drive around.”

What.

Jeno chokes on air. Mark seriously thinks him and Donghyuck are dating. Holy fuck. Jaemin said he was oblivious but Jesus.

“What?” Hyuck squawks. “Are you fucking joking? This guy?”

“Him?” Jeno reels back similarly. “You think I deal with him willingly?”

The idea of him and Hyuck dating is something Jeno hasn’t entertained in a long, long time, and it’s stayed that way for good reason. He loves the younger boy, but Christ, no.

“Hey!” Hyuck cries, smacking Jeno on the back of the head. “You’re so mean to me, you shit.”

Jeno sticks out his tongue at the other, and Hyuck goes to hit him again.

“Sorry.” Mark laughs, raising up his hands in defence. “Shouldn’t have assumed. I don’t know why I even thought that actually.”

Jeno and Hyuck are too busy trying to get each other in a headlock to notice the eyes Mark makes at Jaemin.

“God.” Hyuck says, shoving Jeno away from him. “To think you treat your friends this way, you supposed to be nice to your dongsaeng.”

“We’re both 2000.” Jeno snarks back. “I have no authority over you.”

“Well I’m 1999.” Marks butts in. “So I have authority over both of you.”

Donghyuck lets out a soft ‘oh’, and Jeno wants to launch him into space.

“Anyways.” Jaemin says, trying to intercept Mark’s oblivious effect on Hyuck. “Are you really sure about this, Jeno?”

“Yeah.” Jeno says after giving Hyuck a slap on the arm. “Why not?”

Jaemin lets out a soft, gleeful laugh, and Jeno can feel his heart swell. Moonlight casts shadows across Jaemin’s jaw, the orange hue of the streetlight highlights his cheekbone, contouring the curves of his grin in a soft midnight gradient, like the summer night herself is kissing the other boys cheek. Sparkling dashes of light reflect in Jaemin’s eyes as the happiness spills across his face, and Jeno feel himself being drawn in by the stars.

 _Shit_. Jeno thinks. _I’m so gay._

“You’re amazing, Jeno.”

_Shit. Very very gay._

Jeno huffs out a very distressed laugh. “Naaah.”

“Yah.” Mark claps him on the back. “This is really kind of you to do.”

Jeno kind of feels like his dad is praising him after winning a football game. That kind of warm pride that you get when someone older and cooler than you congratulates you. He beams at Mark who instantly returns the smile. In his brain Jeno locates his small list of information about Mark and pencils in ‘good boy’.

“I’m Mark Lee by the way.” Mark says, and Jeno shoots him a questioning look. “If we’re doing proper introductions.”

“Oh, fair enough.” Jeno laughs. “I’m Jeno, this idiot’s Donghyuck.”

“Oi.” Hyuck slaps Jeno upside the head before smiling at Mark. “Hyuck, Hyuckie, baby, sweetheart, whatever you want is fine.”

Jaemin thankfully steps in before Jeno smacks Hyuck back. “Na Jaemin.”

“We know.” Hyuck says, and Jaemin’s eyebrows raise in surprise. “We’ve still have to wait for the mechanic by the way.”

“Well,” Mark shrugs, “could just go ahead with the original plan.”

The Mark and Jaemin exchange glaces, silently deliberating over whether to include Jeno and Hyuck in whatever this plan is.

“Okay.” Jaemin nods. “Basically, we had a plan of events for tonight, that’s what all that shit we bought was for.”

“Apart from my stuff.” Mark butts in. “That’s just for my apartment.”

Jaemin waves him off with a flutter of his hand as the older pouts at him. “We were going to make a couple of stops before we headed home; drop a couple of presents off.”

Jeno raises an eyebrow. “All those baby wipes are presents?”

“I can explain on the way.” Jaemin grins, Jeno decides he’ll agree to just about anything to see that smile.

“Sorted.” Hyuck says, clapping his hands together. “Shotgun!”

They help Jaemin move his shopping bags into the boot of Jeno’s Fiat, and there’s only a little bit of awkward fumbling as Jeno tries to explain away the empty four pack of fruit cider left in there. Once they’ve loaded up the car all four boys clamber into their seats, and after a bit of adjusting because of ‘Jaemin’s long ass giraffe legs’ and a few minutes of Jeno dropping his keys into the dark footwell and scrambling to retrieve them, they key is turned in the ignition and the car wheezes to life.

Hyuck instantly flips the AC on, because the car has been sitting in almost 30 degree heat since 2pm and currently feels like the inside of a kids mini oven, and Jeno fiddles with the radio. From the backseat Mark requests Radio 1 because it’s heavy metal night and Hyuck tells him to shut up almost on reflex. Jeno shushes them both and pulls his aux cord out of the space you’re supposed to keep sunglasses.

He jams one end into the aux port and the other into his phone, and pulls up his Spotify.

“Go nuts.” He says, chucking the phone in between the two in the backseat. Jaemin manages to grab it first, and Hyuck whines about ‘years of friendship meaning nothing’. Him and Jaemin start an argument about Brockhampton as Jeno puts the car into reverse and pulls out of the parking space, and once again Jeno finds himself marvelling at Donghyuck’s incredible ability to talk to people he’s just met like he’s known them for years.

A boppy hip hop track is selected from one of Jeno’s playlists, and Mark raps along almost cutely. Out of the corner of his eye Jeno can see Hyuck looking a little frustrated about it as he continues the argument with Jaemin, and Jeno has to choke back his laughter.

He pulls out of the parking lot and onto the main road into town, and out of nowhere Jeno is hit with the realization that this feels really, really normal. Like this is something the four of them do every night, or should do every night. He hasn’t spoken to Jaemin in probably about six years and had only met Mark half an hour ago, but there’s something about the dynamic between them all that just kind of slots into place.

Jaemin tells him to head for ‘that spot by the river that everyone hung out at when they were 17’ and Jeno instantly knows what he’s talking about. When they meet eyes they share the easiest grin Jeno has ever felt in his life, and something just feels right.

And then Jeno’s phone buzzes, and Jaemin says, “I don’t know who ‘lilasshole’ is but they’ve sent you a picture of a kermit the frog titty mousepad with the message ‘you still up?’.”

Hyuck wheezes and Jeno vows that Chenle will die to his hands.

\-----

Where the edge of their county meets it neighbour, there is a river. It marks the county border, and runs from the coast all the way into a bigger river that eventually becomes the Thames. The section near their town isn’t very wide, but it’s incredibly deep and slow moving, making it perfect for swimming. Jeno’s dad once told him that freshwater mussels grow at the bottom.

They pull into the carpark of a pub that sits on the river’s edge just before a bridge into the next county, the only access to the path that runs along the riverbank for god knows how far. Jeno pulls up the handbrake and puts the car into neutral.

“Are we actually going to walk?” Hyuck whines.

He’s got a point. The walk to the spot only takes about fifteen minutes, but it’s currently about 10:45, and dark as hell. Not only is the river deep, but the bank is incredibly steep and can be slippery in spots, and the whole thing is lined with thick plantlife waiting to trip you up and drag you down. It’s fine in the daytime when you can see where you’re stepping, but night is a whole other story.

“We can use our phones as torches.” Jaemin says, and Hyuck just mumbles a quick ‘fine’.

They clamber out of the vehicle and, after Jaemin gabs one of the bags out of the boot, safely cross the road to the playing field adjacent to the pub. The heat hits him again, and Jeno pulls at the collar of his work shirt.

It’s a cricket ground, one Jeno’s grandpa used to play on when he was little, and they have to dodge around the sprinklers keeping the grass healthy. In the far left corner is a wooden gate and beyond that is the river.

Finally out of reach from the two street lights lining the road, Mark and Jaemin sacrifice their phone batteries and turn their flashlights on. Jeno takes the shopping bag from Jaemin to free his hands.

It’s dark, but Jeno can see everything is the same as it’s always been. Little boats line the bank of the river just before the bridge, but don’t stretch past the grounds of the cafe on the opposite bank. The cafe doubles as a kayak rental, and Jeno has vivid memories of him, Renjun, Chenle and Jisung renting couples kayaks and almost floating to the next town over. The painful sunburn and the screams of a capsizing Chenle persist in his mind.

Long grass lines both the bank and the side of the path, and Jeno knows from experience that stinging nettles are hidden within. He remembers the internal debate between wearing jeans and sweating furiously or wearing shorts and dealing with the burning pain from the nettles. Poor Mark, the boy’s in shorts and will definitely suffer later.

They safely make it over the small hill from the gate to the riverside path, and Mark lets out a ‘whoa, cool.’

It’s weird to think that Mark is the only one who’s never been here, it's kind of like giving him a tour of their separate childhoods.

“Lead the way.” Jeno gestures to Jaemin, and is almost blinded by the flashlight as the other turns to him.

“Oh, sorry.” Jaemin laughs softly, turning onto the path. “Follow me men.”

Jeno does so, with Mark behind him and Donghyuck bringing up the rear. The path isn’t wide at all, made only thinner by the overgrown grass, and they have to move single file. The group sets off, cautiously making their way along the grass bank towards the spot. It’s serene, bathed in the warm night with the gentle sloshing sounds of the moving river beside them. Cicadas and grasshoppers fill the silence, but it’s not long before Hyuck complains.

“Hey dickheads.” Hyuck says. “I can’t see my feet at the back.”

“Neither can I.” Jaemin replies, almost shouting so that Hyuck can hear him. “You can see Mark, can’t you?”

“Barely.” Donghyuck huffs.

“Just hold on to the back of my shirt.” Mark suggests.

Hyuck splutters out something incomprehensible, and Jeno can’t see him but by the lack of a snarky reply Jeno assumes that the younger is doing what he’s told.

They walk in mostly silence. Jeno can hear Mark and Hyuck chatting quietly behind him, from what he picks up it’s mostly about their location and Hyuck’s memories of hanging out around here. Jaemin occasional calls out to watch for certain dips in the ground but other than that it’s quiet. Jeno doesn’t mind it, listening to the grasshoppers and general nighttime buzz is relaxing.

Jeno remembers that Jaemin never followed up on his promise to explain everything on the way over, but when he asks the boy in front of him about it he just laughs and says, “you’ll see.”

It’s doesn’t take him as long as he remembers to reach the spot. It’s a small part of the bank that isn’t as steep as the rest, creating a small clearing that slopes easily down into the river. It’s pretty much the only safe place for swimming, and as such is a really popular spot for teens to visit once they can drive.

It’s almost a generational thing. The older kids were the ones who told them about it, they went with Jisung and Chenle, those two told their friends, and the cycle went on. The location of the spot being passed down through the years.

Hyuck huffs out a “thank god” when they reach it, but Jaemin turns around to blind Jeno with his flashlight again and grins; “just a little further.” Hyuck complains and Mark rolls himself a cigarette.

They walk on for a couple more minutes, around one more bend in the river, and Jeno is surprised that he’s never thought to walk out this far. They come to what looks like a small, low, old railway bridge, though it’s difficult to make it out in the darkness.

“Here.” Jaemin calls out, and the group stops just before the bridge.

Jeno’s just gonna say it, it’s spooky.

He doesn’t scare easily, he still hates watching scary movies with Renjun because the boy screams irritatingly loud, but there's something about an old railway bridge at night with a 50 ft deep river below that would make anyone a little uneasy.

“I hope your not bringing us here to kill us.” Jeno mumbles, and Jaemin laughs next to him. He doesn’t deny it though.

The grassy path pans out into a wide bank. The drop off from the bank to to river below is incredibly steep here, a mudslide of dirt and reeds, it's way too dangerous to get close to the river's edge. The boys spread out onto the bank, and there's a pause.

“Right.” Jaemin says, he passes his phone to Jeno and then he does one of the dumbest things Jeno’s ever seen.

The boy walks over to where the side of the railway bridge meets the bank, inspects it for a second, crouches and leaps onto the side of the bridge.

“Woah! What the hell are you doing?”

“Jaemin.” Mark sighs, he doesn’t sound very surprised.

Jaemin just grunts, fingers clinging to a random part of metal, he knows exactly where to catch his feet to hoist himself up into a kind of crab like pose on the side of the bridge. He stretches his arms up again and grabs onto the top, and with a swing of his legs he’s up there. Jeno marvels at how he’s done that in those straight leg jeans.

“Jaemin!” Hyuck calls, Jeno points the phone at Jaemin to illuminate him.

“Yeah?” Jaemin asks, now sitting up on the edge of the railway bridge. He shuffles over so he’s sitting right in the middle, over the river.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Hyuck asks.

“Me and my school friends used to come here all the time.” Jaemin explains. “We would sit up here for hours drinking and chatting shit.”

Jaemin smiles, kicking his legs cutely, suddenly Jeno’s fear of being stabbed disappears.

“Is it dangerous?” Jeno asks.

“The railway line’s abandoned.” Jaemin shrugs. “The worst that can happen is falling in the river, and even if you do that I’ve climbed out before.”

Mark sighs, flicks his now finished cigarette into the grass, and stalks over to where Jaemin climbed the bridge. “Help me up then.”

Jaemin laughs, and reaches his hand down to Mark to pull him up. It’s hugely precarious, and there’s a little bit of swearing as Mark almost pulls Jaemin into the water, but he too manages to scramble up onto the bridge.

“Woah.” Mark says, teetering a bit on the edge. “This is cool.”

“Don’t die, idiots.” Hyuck calls out to them.

Jeno angles his torch onto them. Mark has his arm slung over Jaemin’s shoulder for stability, both grinning like madmen, clutching at the edge of the bridge for dear life. The flash of the torchlight illuminates their faces and attempts to reflect off of the rusted metal of the bridge, framed by the long grass and the river below. Jeno rolls his eyes, it looks like a goddamn photoshoot.

“Jeno.” Jaemin calls. “Can you pass me the bag?”

“Yeah.”

Jeno passes the phone to Donghyuck, and half throws half passes the bag full of stuff to Mark. There’s only a slight worry that Mark will tilt too far forward or backwards, but Jaemin holds the back of his shirt for support just in case.

“What even is that stuff?” Hyuck asks.

“Gifts.” Jaemin grins. He shimmies himself around to face the other way on the bridge, and then carefully drops himself out of view onto the tracks below.

Jeno and Donghyuck exchange looks that say ‘this fucking guy’ and Jeno catches Mark watching them in amusement. He swivels himself around so he’s straddling the bridge, and peers down at Jaemin to watch whatever he’s doing.

“Are you hiding shit in the bridge?” Hyuck calls out.

“Not hiding.” Jaemin shouts back, slightly muffled by the layer of metal in between them. “I’m leaving them for friends, I know they still come here occasionally.”

Hyuck looks at Mark for answers, but he just shrugs, swaying a little on the top of the bridge.

“These guys I used to hang out with in school.” Jaemin continues. “They were older, two other korean guys, a japanese dude and a chinese dude. They were all a lot cooler than me, used to bring me here and we’d hang out.”

Jaemin’s head peeks over the metal side of the bridge, and Jeno laughs at him.

“I don’t know why they adopted me, probably felt sorry for me because I didn’t have any friends.”

This takes Jeno a little by surprise, he always considered Jaemin to be popular in school.

“Really?” He asks. “I thought you knew everyone.”

Jaemin shrugs, and pulls himself safely onto the top of the bridge again. “Just because I knew everyone doesn’t mean I had a lot of friends. I mostly hung out with those four but they all left a few years before me, so yeah.”

“So you’re leaving them gifts?” Hyuck presses, and Jaemin nods.

Mark shuffles over to the bankside and slips down off the bridge. As he helps Jaemin down, he asks; “is it because of your interview?”

Jaemin nods again, but doesn’t elaborate any further. They leave it at that.

With Jaemin safely back on the ground, the group sets off in the direction of the car. Jaemin says he has two more ‘dropoffs’ to make tonight and then they can head back to Mark’s dead truck. Hyuck takes the lead this time, determined to show Mark all the places he’s been inebriated along the route, Mark just laughs and tries to pay attention to Hyuck’s rambling.

A few minutes into the walk back, Jeno pokes Jaemin in the arm and asks; “don’t you talk to them anymore?”

“My school friends?” Jaemin clarifies, Jeno nods. “Not really. They all went off to uni and it was super hard to keep in touch. Suddenly they all became really busy and super interesting and I just - wasn’t.”

Jeno nods, silently urging Jaemin to continue. He does.

“Eventually I just kinda dropped out of the group chat and it ended there. Just like, I felt like I didn’t have anything to offer them anymore, you know?”

Jeno breathes a quiet, ‘yeah’. If there’s one thing he knows, it’s the feeling of struggling to keep up with your friends. To cut it off like that though, he doesn’t think he’d be able to do that.

They fall into peaceful silence after that, and they almost, almost make it back to the car without incident.

It’s Donghyuck, because of course it is, that slips randomly on a wet patch of flattened down grass, screaming and flailing as his feet fly out from under him and he goes tumbling down the bank towards the river. Jaemin lets out a loud ‘shit’ and goes to grab for him but Mark is quicker, half sending himself down the bank after Hyuck in attempt to save him.

Donghyuck gets one foot in the water before Mark manages to grab his elbow, aggressively yanking him back before he can go completely in. Hyuck is hauled back onto the path, where he instantly starts shouting.

“My foot! My fucking foot went in holy fuck I could have died!”

“Shut up.” Jeno rolls his eyes. “You’re fine.”

Hyuck looks up from where he’s sprawled on the grass, feigning trauma.

“Fine? My foot is all wet! Now I’m going to have one squelchy shoe all the way back for fucks sake!”

“Just take your shoe off.” Jaemin suggests.

Hyuck mumbles angrily about it, but it’s pretty much the only solution. He yanks his wet sock and shoe off, and then takes the other pair off too because ‘the uneven step will annoy him’ and stuffs both socks inside their respective shoes.

“You’re welcome by the way.” Mark says as he helps Donghyuck to his feet. Hyuck just glares at him and says nothing.

They manage maybe another minute before Hyuck starts to complain about cold feet. Mark piggybacks him the whole way back to the car. He never mentions the nettle stings that must be bothering his legs.


	3. you got these little things

They’re back in the car, and the first thing that Donghyuck does is insist that they swing by his place so he can get a spare change of shoes. Like the rest of the uni students he knows, Hyuck is living back with his parents at the moment, and Jeno heads to the southern side of their tiny little town, one of the few residential suburbs.

They sit outside the little semi detached home under the one streetlamp in the suburb, waiting for Hyuck to return. Jeno rhythmically drums his fingers on the wheel and turns the AC down a little. It’s probably about 11:30 now, and the heat has become somewhat bearable. His shirt is no longer clinging to his skin, though he’s still very aware that Mark and Jaemin are dressed like Topman models and he’s still rocking his work uniform and his oldest pair of black jeans.

Jaemin fiddles with the song selection, and Mark leans forward so his head pokes in between the two front seats. “Jeno, is Donghyuck gay?”

This, obviously, catches Jeno off guard, and he splutters a little before replying.

“What? I mean, _yes,_ of course he is. Why do you ask?”

Mark just shrugs, and leans back into his seat. Jeno catches Jaemin’s eye in the rearview mirror and they exchange a suspicious look.

Jeno turns back to look at the house and spots Donghyuck trying to close his front door as quietly as possible. That bastard, not only has he got new shoes but he’s also switched his work shirt for a light, flowery button up, the traitor. Hyuck stalks like a shitty ninja back over to the car and slides into the passenger seat.

“I see you’ve abandoned me for fashion yet again.” Jeno says.

“Stop complaining.” Hyuck rolls his eyes. “I brought you a hoodie.”

Hyuck throws a baggy pastel blue hoodie into Jeno’s lap, and he raises his eyebrows.

“A hoodie? It's like 30 degrees.”

“It’s my light one, you’ll probably sweat less in that than your polyester shirt.”

Jeno sighs, but complies, unbuckling his seatbelt so he can shrug off the sticky shirt and pull Donghyuck’s hoodie over his head. He’s right, the fabric is super thin, and is a lot lighter than the work uniform, totally fine to wear just the hoodie. Jeno rolls the baggy sleeves up to his elbows and puts his seatbelt back on. He chucks his shirt at Donghyuck’s head, who flips him off before stuffing it in his footwell.

“Where to next?” Jeno asks, putting the car into first and pulling away from the pavement.

“Uh.” Jaemin says, he’s blatantly staring at Jeno and Mark has to poke him in the ribs for him to continue. “Uh, over to the east side of town, do you know where the dance studio is?”

“Yeah! I used to have lessons there when I was a preteen.” Jeno glances at Hyuck, totally missing whatever just happened to Jaemin. “It’s where I met Jisung.”

“Oh god.” Hyuck said. “That place is the reason I have Chenle in my life.”

“Indirectly, yes.”

“And were going because?”

“I had lessons there too.” Jaemin supplies, as Jeno pulls out of the suburb. “I actually got into BIM on a dance scholarship.”

“Cool.” Jeno says. “You’re like our friend Jisung, kids freakishly good. He was tutored by one of the teachers I think.”

“Ten?” Jaemin asks.

“Yeah! I heard he only takes personal students.”

“Yeah.” Jaemin chuckles. “He tutored me too, he knew my school friends so he took me under his wing, even though I totally wasn’t as good as his other kids.”

“Jisung said he’s awesome.” Jeno nods.

He had no clue Jaemin was a dancer, it doesn’t really fit with his cool outcast image. Jeno always assumed he was a producer or songwriter or something. The idea of Jaemin dancing contemporary in a hot studio with Jisung’s old tutor is something that Jeno finds hard to picture.

They pull onto the main street and Donghyuck rolls down the window to rest his arm on the windowsill. Jaemin starts playing some ABBA tune, and Hyuck lets a woop out into the night. What a mess.

The drive to the dance studio takes about ten minutes, but it feels so short. Hyuck is screaming along to Super Trooper, accompanied by Jaemin telling him to ‘kindly shut up’ which only increases the volume of Hyuck’s vocals and Mark’s laughter. It feels like old friendships, and it freaks Jeno out a little how naturally everyone’s moulded together.

Jeno remembers the route to the studio, but he’s never driven there himself. He danced when he was fourteen, before he could drive, so his memories are of his dad taking him two and fro in his old Siat. They pull into the carpark of the sleeping studio, and exit the vehicle. Jaemin grabs two bags from the boot.

“This way.”

As Jaemin points out of the way, Jeno grabs Donghyuck by the wrist to hold him back from the other two.

“Hey.” He says, and Hyuck raises an eyebrow at him. “Do you like Mark?”

Hyuck raises his other eyebrow, and glances around to where the other two are walking off to check that they’re not listening.

“He’s annoying.” He stage whispers. “He’s irritatingly good at everything, like, why the hell is he so good at everything? And he’s totally oblivious, I don’t even think he knows I like boys. It’s like everything I say goes completely over his head, it’s so _frustrating._ ”

“But, you like him?”

“Well.” Hyuck pauses. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy about it.”

Jeno laughs softly, and Hyuck shoves his shoulder. They follow after the other two.

Jaemin takes them around the back of the studio. There’s a small garden space there, Jeno remembers sitting around here on his breaks, sipping on his Capri Sun and trying to calm his aching muscles.

“That bench is where I met Jisung.” Jeno points out. “Little shit came up to me and told me everything I was doing wrong with my dancing.”

“Of course he did.” Hyuck says.

“I thought he was a cocky kid, but he was right. The moment I saw him dance I realised that he actually knew what he was talking about.”

“Honestly if he wasn’t so cool that kid would never get anywhere.” Hyuck adds.

“Really?” Mark asks. “That bad?”

“He’s a disrespectful little dick.” Hyuck puts a hand on Jeno’s shoulder. “But he’s our son, we raised him.”

Jeno laughs and nods. “Sadly, it’s true.”

“Cute.” Jaemin smiles.

They take a moment to allow Jeno to reminisce. He can almost see himself sitting on that bench, sweating in the summer heat. Dance lessons ran from 1 till 4 over the summer breaks, and lunch was called at 2:30, allowing the perfect amount of sunshine to fill the small garden space and greet the exhausted dancers on their break.

Jeno can picture it; himself, Jisung and his loud friend Chenle, who would always drop by after piano lessons to say hello, lounging on the grass and trying to keep themselves cool in the hot afternoon sun. Talking about school and parents and any other random crap that came into their minds, grass tickling their bare legs as they absentmindedly pulled dandelions from the ground.

“It’s just back here.” Jaemin says, interrupting his thoughts.

Jaemin must have sat on these benches, he’d laid on this grass, he’d eaten his lunch under the shade of the concrete walls just like the rest of them had. Jeno is starting to be able to picture that too. Sunlight glinting off his golden skin, legs and arms aching in the heat, crumpled sandwich wrappers and empty juice cartons. He was wrong, Jaemin totally fits in this tableau.

Jaemin leads them to the fence at the edge of the grassy area, and they stand in front of it expectantly.

“Yeah we’re gonna have to jump this.” Jaemin nods.

“Uh.” Hyuck frowns. “Trespassing?”

“It’s for a good cause.”

Jeno’s never hopped a fence before, and it occurs to him that he’s probably the only one here who hasn’t. It’s a lot more difficult that he imagined it would be, but with some scrambling of his feet and Jaemin’s hand pulling him up, he manages his way over and lands two feet on the ground next to the shopping bags.

It’s someone's backyard, a little messy and overgrown, but the garden furniture and growing potted herbs show that there's the beginnings of a beautiful garden.

“Who’s house is this?” Hyuck whisper shouts as Jaemin lowers himself to the ground.

“Ten and his boyfriend’s.” Jaemin answers, also lowering his voice. “I wanted to thank them, they were basically the reason I got into university.”

Jeno crouches down to look through the bags out of interest. “Thank them with wet wipes?”

“Baby supplies.” Jaemin smiles. “I heard they’re adopting soon.”

“Really?” Jeno asks. “Good for them.”

“Yeah, I saw Johnny post about it on Facebook.”

Jaemin leads them over to the corner of the garden, where a large metal electrical box sits surrounded by long uncut grass and some wild flowers. As quietly as humanly possible, Jaemin climbs the box and proudly stands atop it. Keeping with the theme of the evening, Jaemin reaches out a hand to haul the other three up after him.

From there, there’s a slightly large jump off the box and onto a portion of the dance studio’s roof that’s low enough to graze the top of the fence and extend slightly into the garden. Once on the roof, they can climb up to a higher section, and then they’re standing on the flat top of the dance studio.

It’s hard, concrete and cold, but from here they can see the lights from the surrounding residential area and the treeline that it backs onto.

“Holy shit.” Hyuck says, and yeah, _holy shit._ They can pretty much see there whole world from up here.

The streetlights line their horizon, and the reality of what’s happening sinks in a bit.

Jeno’s standing on the roof of a building at midnight with his best friend, his childhood crush and some dude he’s just met, looking out over their sleepy little town, for once, from the viewpoint of an outsider. Definitely not what he expected when he woke up this morning, it kinda feels like a weird dream.

It’s a little surreal, and this is the first time he’s seen his home from the perspective of elsewhere.

“Ten bought me up here once.” Jaemin says, sitting down on the concrete. “He comes up here to meditate and practice when he’s stressed.”

It’s dark and cold at night, so Jeno pictures it during the day. He imagines this place in the summer at 7pm, during the golden hour. He imagines the warmest sunlight left over from the day casting shadows of the jutting TV antenna, shading the garden below but illuminating the roof in its caress almost perfectly.

He imagines Ten up here under the honeyed blue sky, repeating his sharp movements again and again until they’re as clean and poised as the dancer himself, pushing his aching muscles further to release the stress of everyday life as he’s bathed in gold.

“I can see why.” Jeno says, crouching next to Jaemin. They exchange grins, and Jeno thinks about how Jaemin’s smile is a little like that time of day, bringing warmth wherever it goes. His stomach somersaults and he tries to calm himself down by thinking of Jisung’s feet.

“It’s a little dangerous though.” Mark says.

He’s not wrong. Clearly no one’s supposed to be up here as the edges aren’t fenced at all. The drop isn’t enough to kill you but it’s enough to break a few bones, one wrong pirouette and you’re done for. Jeno definitely wouldn’t bring Chenle up here.

“We’re adults.” Jaemin shrugs. “I think we’ll be okay.”

“So where should I put these?” Hyuck asks, lifting up the two shopping bags.

Jaemin beckons him over.

They wander around to a raised part of the roof with an extractor fan jutting out of it, blasting out hot air from the studio blow. The AC runs overnight to keep the studio cool for the mornings, protecting the expensive flooring and mirrors. Jeno remembers the cold floors on his bare feet, the ice barre under his fingertips.

Underneath the extractor fan is a small pile of papers, tied together with a blue ribbon attached to a rock, assumedly to keep them from blowing away.

Jaemin crouches down to the pile, and beckons for Hyuck to pass him the bags.

“What’s this?” Jeno leans over Jaemin’s shoulder to peer at the notes.

“Ten collects memorabilia, newspaper clippings and photos and stuff.” Jaemin carefully unties the ribbon and passes the notes to Jeno to look at. “Stuff about his students.”

It’s quite an extensive collection, and some of the pieces look at least five years old. Jeno is surprised to find a very old photo of his dance class posing neatly with Ten and a few of the other teachers. Laughing, he finds himself and Jisung in the crowd, and then passes the picture to Hyuck.

Hyuck grins, whips out his phone, and takes a picture of the photograph.

“Why.” Is all Jeno says. Hyuck waggles his eyebrows at him and Jeno’s phone buzzes, that can’t be good.

 **moomin**  
      holy shit

Hyuck has sent the picture of 15 year old Jeno and 14 year old Jisung to the group chat, and within seconds a zoomed in screenshot of his face, bowlcut and all, is the new group icon.

 **lilasshole**  
      THANK U FOR THIS HYUCK  
      #1 HYUNG

“Dickhead.” Jeno shakes his head, pocketing his phone and ignoring Donghyuck’s snickers. He continues typing away, and passes the photo to Mark.

“Woah.” He squints at this photo. “Is this you, Jeno?”

“Yes.” Jeno sighs. “Sadly, that is me.”

Jaemin leans over to get a look. He laughs and grins at Jeno, “I remember that haircut, you look so different now.”

Hold the fucking phone, Jaemin does remember who he is? _What._

Oh God, that means he remembers Spanish class. He remembers Jeno as an awkward 14 year old. He remembers that time Jeno tried to cheat on one of their writing tests but bought Renjun’s German notes by mistake. _He remembers the bowl cut._

Jeno lets out a laugh that sounds like a tonsilitis-ridden horse being stepped on by a giant, and Hyuck sends a ‘ _what the fuck is wrong with you_ ’ stare his way.

Jaemin starts to rummage through the bags. “There should be - yes!”

He pulls out a ‘celebrations’ card and unwraps it, assumedly for Ten and his boyfriend. There’s a bit more rummaging around in the bag as Jaemin sources a pen, he opens the card and starts to write in it.

Jeno sorts through the rest of the memorabilia as he waits. He finds a great picture of Jisung on stage, and one after of him beet red and covered in sweat, being lifted up by Ten and a tall guy Jeno assumes is Ten’s boyfriend. Jisung looks like a total state, which is great in its own right, but Ten’s got this expression on his face that Jeno can’t quite name, but it’s somewhere between great pride and bursting into tears. He sends a snap of the photo to Jisung, because he probably doesn’t even know this photo exists and will want to have it.

There’s also a news clipping about Jaemin’s class winning some kinda tournament. A smaller group of young boys, Ten’s tutor group, all huddled up and holding pieces of paper. Jeno squints, it looks like a recent photo, could be them winning their scholarships.

Jaemin looks so sweet and, even though his photo is only a few years old, so young.

It’s like there are a hundred different versions of him, each with a different personality, different friends, a different life. Jeno’s met two different versions of Jaemin, he wonders how many there are to go.

He wraps everything back up with the ribbon, and leaves Jaemin to his writing. Mark and Donghyuck are sat near the edge of the roof looking out over the town, and Jeno wanders over to them.

“And over there is Prince’s street.” Hyuck is saying. “That’s where Jeno’s mate Renjun lives, he broke his arm trying to do a kickflip near that house, the one with the yellow roof.”

Jeno sinks down next to Hyuck. “He didn’t break it, it was just a sprain.”

“He lied to me, then.” Hyuck turns to him, betrayed.

Jeno shrugs. “Probably so you would do something for him.”

“That dick! I wrote his history notes for months for no reason?”

Jeno forgets they had history together. Once he’d met Donghyuck at work, he’d bumped into him at school. One shared lunch later and Chenle was enamoured, he moulded with the friend group and that was it. Everything with Hyuck was so easy, Jeno had always appreciated that.

“Sounds like it.” Jeno laughs, Mark looks bemused across from him.

Hyuck pulls out his phone.

 **sunshinee**  
      @moomin did u or did u not break ur arm trying to do a kickflip last september ???  
**satanspawn**  
      no he sprained it  
**sunshinee**  
      @moomin BITCH  
**lilasshole**  
      YES EXPOSE HIM  
**moomin**  
      …  
      i can’t read suddenly,,, i don’t know  
**lilasshole**  
      VINDICATION  
**moomin**  
      sorry babes you’re just so fuckin gullible i had to capitalise on that shit  
**sunshinee**  
      cool uhhhh i fucking hate you! friendship over! not joking!

Hyuck locks his phone with a dramatic sigh and shoves it back into his pocket. “Snakes, everywhere I turn.”

“I wish I’d thought of that.” Jeno snorts. “Could have broken my toe or something, gotten you to carry me everywhere.”

“Yeah, maybe if I had a crane.”

Jeno punches his arm. “Twig boy.”

“You two are cute.”

Jeno and Donghyuck both turn to stare at Mark, who has been listening in on the conversation. He’s smiling at them, and for the first time this evening Jeno truly feels the age difference between them.

“It wears off quickly.” Hyuck deadpans, and Mark laughs.

It’s a sweet sentiment though. Mark is sweet.

“This town seems like a nice place to grow up.” Mark comments, staring out over the suburbs.

Jeno shrugs to himself. “It’s alright.”

It _is_ nice though, in all honesty. It’s a fairly mixed class area, almost no crime, very social and lots of places for young kids to entertain themselves. The surrounding woodlands are full of places to explore. The local schools produce good grades, have teachers that actually care. Everyone knows everyone.

“Where are you from?” Jeno realises he doesn’t know.

“East Croydon.” Mark says, and yeah, a London borough makes so much sense for him.

“Your whole life?” Hyuck asks.

“Yep, my family too, I’ve got London blood.” He raises a hand to wave it in front of them, as if to prove it.

Jeno waits for a second before asking. “Why did you leave?”

Mark looks out over the tiny lights below him, fiddling with a couple of pebbles in his hand.

“More grass, breathable air, and Brighton’s right on the sea, you know? You can go to the coast and just look out and see _forever._ ”

Jeno and Hyuck both nod, the West coast is only about forty minutes from here so they have the luxury of day trips to the beach. The West sea is different to the South, better for surfing.

They fall into silence for a few moments, each considering the town below them.

“You should come visit.” Hyuck says after a while. “We can go to the beach.”

Mark locks his gaze with Donghyuck and smiles, suddenly Jeno feels like he’s intruding. “I think I’d like that.”

They just smile at each other, and Jeno kinda wants to take a picture of this moment because the look on Donghyuck’s face is something he’s never seen before.

“Jeno kicked a football at someone’s dog at the beach once.” Hyuck blurts, and the spell is broken. Mark breaks into startled laughter.

“On _accident._ ” Jeno clarifies.

He opens his mouth to tell the story of how Donghyuck had got really drunk at one of their beach barbecues and passed out in the dunes, but Hyuck’s ears are burning scarlet and it’s highly likely that he’s brought that up to divert attention away from his own embarrassment. Instead, he just sends his friend a knowing look and tries not to laugh when Hyuck glares back.

“Hey kids.” Jaemin calls, the other three all turn to look at him. “I’m done here if you guys are.”

Jeno stretches out his arms and legs before standing, they’ve got a long drive ahead of them and the last thing he wants is to cramp up on the motorway. He takes one last look at his township before moving to follow the others.

Getting down from the roof is not as easy as getting up on it, they soon discover. Jaemin’s feet are practiced and he knows exactly where to hold on and where is safe to drop down, but the other’s pale as they realise the jump from the roof to the electrical box in the garden seems a lot farther from up here.

Even Jaemin scrambles a bit in his landing, his momentum carrying him to jump again off the box and onto the grass below. Honestly, this kid must love the danger of it all, because even though he lands a little awkwardly he whips his head around to the others and grins in the stupidest kinda way, like he’s thinking ‘hey, I’m alive!’

“Uh, Jaemin?” Donghyuck hovers anxiously by the edge of the roof. “You ever fallen down here?”

“Yeah dude, it’s not as high as it seems.”

Hyuck clearly isn’t convinced, and even Mark looks a little skeptical, so Jeno takes initiative.

“I’ll go first.”

Jaemin smiles at him. “Trust me, guys.”

So Jeno does, he pushes off with one foot and preps his landing with the other. Jaemin’s right, the gap is nowhere near as big as it looks, but Jeno thanks his dance training anyways because it keeps his balance steady and his legs strong. Other than a worryingly loud bang from the electrical box, he lands just fine.

He turns around to smile at Hyuck. “It’s not as bad as it looks dude, honest.”

Hyuck nods, mouth set in a line.

He waits for Jeno to carefully lower himself onto the ground before taking his jump, and Jeno was expecting him to be wobbly because Hyuck’s never done a sport in his life, but he’s almost perfect. The boy’s so damn light that he barely makes a sound when he lands, crouching lightly to keep his balance, and Jeno’s mildly impressed. Grinning, he hops off the box.

“Hey, maybe I have a future in long jump?”

“Not surprising with them twig legs of yours.” Jeno snorts, and Hyuck slaps his shoulder.

But he grins anyways, and Jeno knows he’s relieved.

Jaemin’s already moved over to start climbing the fence when Mark hits the ground.

It’s not that he doesn’t go far enough, it’s that he doesn’t know the strength of his own legs and completely overshoots. Jeno can feel his face fall in slow motion as he sees Mark completely miscalculate, his feet manage to catch the edge of the box but it’s not stable and he stumbles forward towards the ground. Instinctively, he twists his body and holds up his hands to protect his head, and with a loud thud he lands on his shoulder in the grass.

“Mark!” Donghyuck hisses. “Fuck, Jesus.”

Mark rolls onto his back, wincing. “Ah, shit.”

The three rush over to him, still trying to be as quiet as possible.

“Are you okay hyung?” Jaemin asks, crouching next to him.

Raising his opposite hand to touch his shoulder, Mark winces again before answering. “Fuck, ah, I think so? Just gimme a sec.”

The three of them exchange worried glances as Mark squeezes his eyes shut and takes some deep breaths.

“This was so dumb.” Hyuck whispers, crouching on the other side of Mark to touch his other shoulder. “We shouldn’t have gone up there.”

Jaemin gives his friend the once over before shaking his head. “He’ll be alright.”

Jeno knows the look on Donghyuck’s face, and he puts his hand on his shoulder before he snaps at Jaemin.

“I’m okay.” Mark props himself up with one arm, he tests his weight by leaning on the other arm, and only slightly winces. The others move back to give him space as he slowly stands. “I’m okay, just a bit sore.”

Mouth set in a dead line, Hyuck frowns, but Jeno gives him a look and he doesn’t say anything.

Mark rolls his shoulder, and smiles. “Let’s go.”

Perhaps Mark is too sweet.

They make it back to the car without incident. Each of them, even Jaemin, are very careful as they clamber over the fence.

It’s so quiet, the night, it’s almost intimidating. Jeno’s used to being out in it, but sometimes the absolute silence of it catches him off guard. It’s almost as if you can hear the woods breathing, like hearing your own pulse. Most of the time, it’s reassuring, like a reminder that you are alive and existing amongst the rest of the world. But sometimes, when the mood is off or there’s fog in the air or everythings a but _too_ quiet, it can be a little frightening.

Their town is surrounded by dense, dark forest. Keeping them in.

Once everyone’s inside, Jeno turns the key in the ignition and completely turns the aircon off, the night air is cool enough and it’s only going to get colder. The heat isn’t overwhelming anymore, and Jeno can roll the sleeves down on his hoodie without breaking a sweat. This, time, Hyuck and Mark bundle into the back seats, as Jaemin has to give him instructions on where to go.

Pulling away from the curb, Jeno watches Jaemin take one last look at the dance studio, and wonders if this will be the last time he’s here.

As they drive into the night, the trees murmur in the wind.


	4. to get nothing from anyone

Whatever tension is being held over them quickly falls away during the drive. Jeno can tell that Hyuck’s irritated because Mark got hurt, but Mark can tell too, and he carefully defuses the situation with small smiles and encouraged conversation. It’s easy to tell he’s a good mediator, and Jeno knows it’s not just because of his age, the guy is just naturally good at feeling everyone else’s vibes, and he envies that a little.

Jaemin barely seems to notice as Hyuck cools off, putting his feet off on the dash specifically to annoy Jeno.

Reaching over, Jeno slaps at his leg. “Get your fucking feet down.”

Jaemin giggles but obliges, and Jeno surpesses his blush by rolling his eyes. If this guy can make him blush by disrespecting his car, then what the hell is going to happen if he actually starts flirting?

The suburbs fade to treelines as Jaemin directs them out of town. Jeno’s used to country roads, thanks to his late night escapades with Donghyuck, he’s always thought they’re the most fun to drive.

There’s a motorway junction about 5 minutes away from here, and if Jeno’s really tired and just wants to chat, they circle between their junction and the closest service station for hours because that takes almost no brain energy. But if he’s stressed from work, or fighting with his mum again, he can focus all of his attention and thought into navigating the tight country roads at speeds Hyuck would kill him for.

When he’s driving, he’s got complete control. He knows the limits of his shitty car, knows exactly where the reach of his clutch ends and how his wheel pulls slightly to the left, he feels the car rumble underneath him as he pushes it to it’s limits and it feels like Jeno’s testing his skill.

He knows it’s something to do with his weird control issues, to push himself like that, and yes it’s a pretty stupid output for it.

But he’s never does anything too dumb, and he’s always made a point of knowing where the most dangerous spots are. There’s precautions; not going out while the weather's terrible, driving routes a couple of times in the day before speeding them at night, making sure he asks people what their max speeds are when they ride passenger.

Country roads are fun because they’re empty and twisting and go on for miles, but they're also thin and precarious and well, kids do die.

But damn, they’re great stress relief.

“Put something good on.” Hyuck whines, grabbing Mark’s arm and trying to steal Jeno’s phone away.

“This is good!” Mark says, close to outraged. “What are you talking about?”

“Like spice girls or something.” Hyuck tries to grab again and Mark pulls the phone away, almost swinging the aux cord into Jaemin’s face.

“Watch it.” He laughs, swatting it away.

The other two squabble over the music, and Jeno rolls his eyes.

“I don’t remember Donghyuck being this loud.” Jaemin mumbles, and Jeno laughs.

“Don’t you? Because I do.”

“Not as far as I remember.” Jaemin says. “I had biology with him when we were like fifteen, he was always super shy.”

Jeno flicks his eyes off the road to send Jaemin a surprised look. Donghyuck? Shy?

In all their years of friendship, Jeno had always known Donghyuck to be three things.

Confident. His clothes dramatic and his voice loud, Donghyuck knew who he was and he wouldn’t let anyone else change that.

Challenging. A pain in the ass when he wasn’t in the mood, a thorn in the side of anyone who upset his friends.

Captivating. His friendship was intoxicating and his personality turned heads, Donghyuck quickly learned his powers over others and learned how to weaponize it, and since the age of seventeen he’s had meathead fuckboys clamouring to get to him.

The shy, quiet Donghyuck from Jaemin’s biology class isn’t someone Jeno’s ever met.

“People change, I guess.” Jeno shrugs.

“That they do.” Jaemin nods. “Anyways you guy’s friendship seems cute.”

Jeno laughs at that. “I hate him.”

“It’s sweet!” Jaemin protests. “You guys are super close.”

“I guess so, our whole group has been together for ages. I’ve seen them do some really stupid shit.”

“Really?” Jaemin laughs.

“Oh my god, yeah. The amount of times Jisung’s got stuck somewhere he shouldn’t be, like a fucking roof or a ditch or something. Or the time we lost Chenle in a shop for like three hours and Renjun nearly cried.” Jeno smiles at the memory. “Even though he’d never admit it of course.”

It was great, Hyuck still has a video of the tannoy lady calling Chenle’s name as Jeno comforts a distressed Renjun and a bored Jisung in the background.

“Cute.” Jaemin says.

“Yeah. Just like, you know the kind of friends you could not talk to for like four months and then come back and everything would be exactly the same as you left it?”

Jaemin doesn’t say anything to that, but Jeno sees him nod slightly out of the corner of his eye.

“Family, I guess.” Jeno continues. “A dumb, annoying, fucked up little family.”

Jeno flashes Jaemin a quick look, and notices how he’s looking out of the window, watching the trees whiz by in the night.

“Jeno!” Hyuck calls from the backseat. “Mark hasn’t heard of Sistar. This is a disgrace! You go to a music university!”

Jeno just grabs the aux cord and yanks it, not caring about the damage it does to his already shitty phone. The chord painfully escapes the phone port with a loud buzz and Jeno switches the source on the car from aux to radio.

For a few seconds, the radio crackles, and then starts playing some 90’s bop that Hyuck immediately starts wiggling to.

“This’ll do.” He grins.

They drive on with Hyuck singing the lyrics and everyone in the car being a little taken aback by the soft tone of his voice.

Jaemin’s surprised Jeno already knows the roads by their next stop, and Jeno just shrugs because he’s pretty sure he knows almost every road in this county. Following instructions, he pulls off of a country lane and into a random crop field, praying to God his tyres don’t get caught in the mud.

Stopping just before a wide metal gate, Jeno switches off his headlights. Hyuck sticks his head between the front seats with a frown.

“Why the fuck are we in a random field?”

Jaemin twists around in his seat, and fixes them with a look that tells them to listen. “Okay so, the place were going next is somewhere we absolutely cannot get caught at.”

Good start.

“At the bottom of this field there's a couple of fences and then a house, I can get into the house but I need you guys to help me get under the fence, _quietly_.”

Hyuck blinks at him. “Are we actually fucking breaking and entering?”

“Isn’t this what you wanted, Hyuck?” Jeno snickers at him.

“I meant abandoned buildings, not someone’s actual fucking house.”

“No I -” Jaemin blurts. “I know someone who lives there.”

As Hyuck leans back into his seat Jeno meets Mark’s gaze, he gives a slight nod.

“Okay.” Jeno says. “We’ll help you.”

Jaemin smiles in silent thanks, and Hyuck keeps his mouth shut.

One by one they leave the car, stepping out into the cool night. Jeno locks the car behind them and looks across the field. He’s driven by here a few times before and knows it’s usually used to grow some kind of tall vegetable, maybe corn or beans, but this must be a rest year because the ground is dry and only grass and weeds spread before them.

They easily hop the metal gate, and once again Jaemin sacrifices his phone battery to use as a torch.

The field is wider than it looks, and wilder too. Grass tangles their ankles and trips their steps, and Hyuck swears at the shrubbery at least six times as they make their way over to the opposite corner.

“Dude.” Jaemin calls back to him. “Mouth shut please.”

Hyuck grumbles something mean in retaliation and Jeno pretends he didn’t hear it.

It takes them longer than expected to cross, as they have to go around the perimeter, but as they come closer Jeno gets a better look at the house. It’s pretty basic, to be honest. Two floors, smallish garden, what looks like a driveway on the south side. In the yard a large tree grows, branches curving to caress the yellow brick sides of the house, and that's probably the most interesting part about it.

A dim, pinkish light seeps from between the curtains of one of the windows. Jeno wonders who sleeps inside.

They come to a gate in the northwest corner of the field, it's wooden and small and Jaemin easily flips the latch. A brief no man's land stretches between the field and the yard of the house, policed by a long expanse of barbed wire fencing, supposedly to keep foxes and other pests out. It’s tall, the only way to get around it is to go under.

“Jaemin.” Jeno hisses in the dark. “This looks dangerous.”

Jaemin turns to flash him a brilliant smile. “It’s not.”

That doesn’t seem true, because the sharp wire glints in the moonlight as they approach it, but this evenings all about taking risks, so.

“Two of you grab it.” Jaemin points to part of the fence where the wire seems less taught. “Carefully, pull it up so I can get under.”

“Bossy.” Mark mumbles, but complies, heading over to where Jaemin’s pointing. Jeno follows suit as Donghyuck holds the last two shopping bags.

Jaemin shines his light on the metal as Mark and Jeno safely find a place to grab the wiring without cutting themselves. Once they’ve done so, they nod at each other and pull up. The wire is strong and tight, but with some effort they manage to create enough wiggle room for the pink haired boy to slip underneath.

He does so, getting dirt on his clothes. His shirt still gets a little caught on the wiring and Jeno huffs in frustration but with a little maneuvering Jaemin frees himself and gets safely through the gap. Hyuck quickly slides the bags after him, and Jeno and Mark drop the fence as soon as Jaemin grabs them.

“Stay there.” Jaemin flashes them one last grin before sneaking over to the house.

Jeno just blinks at him.

Hyuck tuts. “Crazy bastard.”

They all watch in awe as Jaemin easily climbs the large tree and scoots himself across one of the branches to dip down onto an outcropping of the roof. He taps a couple of times on the window with the pink light coming out of it, and slips onside once it's opened for him by an unseen figure.

“How the fuck.” Jeno says, and the other two shake their heads.

With nothing to do now that Jaemin is gone, Jeno, Mark and Donghyuck plant their asses in the dirt and chat quietly.

Jaemin didn’t give any indication of how long he would be, so Jeno draws letters in the dust and Mark tells Hyuck about the lanes in Brighton. He’s never been, but Mark speaks like he’s painting with his words so it's pretty easy to imagine the bustling crowds and little shops adorned with stuff.

Hyuck giggles in this certain way that Jeno doesnt recognise, and he knows his friend is a goner.

“You’d like it.” Mark smiles, before catching himself. “Uh, both of you.”

“I’m sure we would.” Jeno grins back. “Maybe we can explore a bit before we go home tomorrow.”

“That’d be nice.” Mark says. “I’ll drop Jaemin at his interview and then we can hang.”

“What is this interview anyways?” Hyuck asks. He’s laying on his back in the dirt, playing with a twig with one eyebrow raised at Mark.

Mark squirms for a second. “Uh, I don’t - it’s pretty private. He wouldn’t tell me.“

“It’s alright.” Jeno says. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Does he tell you anything?” Donghyuck doesn’t give up so easily. “Do you even know where we are, Mark? What this house is?”

“I - Well.” He sighs. “No, but I didn’t ask to be fair.”

“So what are you?” Hyuck snorts. “His babysitter?”

Jeno smacks him over the head with a frown. Hyuck yelps and tries to roll out of the way. “What?”

“I’m not his babysitter.” Mark says. “He’s not a child.”

Hyuck nods like he totally doesn’t believe him. “Remember when you almost broke your arm earlier? I’d be pissed if Jeno almost got me hospitalised.”

He ends the sentence with a laugh, but Jeno frowns at him some more. What’s he trying to pull?

Donghyuck meets his eye and shrugs. “Just sayin’.”

“Jaemin’s a good kid.” Mark says suddenly, and Jeno gives him a surprised look. “I mean, from what you’ve seen tonight he seems pretty reckless, and yeah maybe he is. But, he’s good. He’s just, skittish, and a bit dumb, you know? But, good.”

“Right.” Jeno says slowly, and Mark looks at him like he’s trying to convey extra meaning that Jeno just can’t pick up on.

There’s a weird few seconds of tense energy, but it’s split by a notification sound from Donghyuck’s phone.

They both watch as Hyuck pulls out his phone and, on reading the notification, sighs.

“Another dick pic?” Jeno says, trying not to laugh as Mark’s eyebrows disappear into his hairline.

“I wish.” Hyuck sighs. “Well, no, I don’t. But it’d be a lot better than the 1000 word novel proclaiming undying love I’ve just received.”

“From who?” Mark splutters, and Hyuck’s eyes flick to him with a confused expression.

“You alright?”

“Yeah.” Mark clears his throat and Jeno coughs to suppress a laugh. He repeats in a more normal tone; “from who?”

“Ex boyfriend.” Hyuck says simply, eyes returning to his phone to type a reply.

“Really?”

“Yeah, literally messaged me last night out of nowhere and now won’t leave me alone.” Hyuck laughs. “He’s obsessed.”

“Is he annoying you?”

“Yeah, who even sends dick picks over whatsapp? Now that shit is saved to my camera roll, gross.”

“So, why don’t you block him?” Mark asks, repeating the question Jeno asked only a few hours ago.

And Jeno expects Hyuck to give the same snarky response he did then: ‘ _it’s fun_ ’. Because that’s what Donghyuck does. He plays, all fun and no feelings.

But Hyuck meets Mark’s eyes again, and as he opens his mouth something falters and no words come out.

It takes a full few seconds for him to tear his eyes back to his phone, and as he does he says; “just, it’s just someone to talk to isn’t it?”

Jeno doesn’t hide his frown, fully aware of how Hyuck is avoiding his eyes, continuing to type. That’s not right.

“Donghyuck.” Mark says softly, reaching out to wrap his hand around his wrist. Hyuck’s fingers freeze on the keypad and his eyes flash to Mark as if they didn’t have a choice.

Whatever Mark’s about to say next gets cut off as one of the lights on the bottom floor of the house switches on, lighting all three of them up against the trees.

“Shit.” Mark says, dropping Hyuck’s wrist and standing. “Jaemin.”

Jeno and Donghyuck follow suit, getting to their feet as they anxiously watch the hallway light flicker on and a shadow pass by the window.

“I’ll text him.” Mark says. “Let’s get the fence ready.”

All three hover near the same spot in the fence, watching as the pink bedroom light goes off, and the window remains firmly shut. Mark runs a hand through his hair but says nothing.

“Come on.” Donghyuck mumbles quietly. “Fucking breaking and entering, idiot. I’m not going to jail for your ass.”

Jeno shushes him.

The top landing light comes on, and then goes off again after a moment.

Jeno fixes his eyes on the window, waiting.

_Come on._

But there’s nothing. No light, no sight of Jaemin emerging safely and returning to them.

The hallway light goes off.

“I’ll give him a minute.” Mark says, voice hushed. “Then I’m calling him.”

But before he can even finish his words Jaemin’s face appears at the back door of the house, frantically waving at them through the window.

A visible sigh of relief washes over them, before they notice Jaemin’s expression. Panic.

“What the hell.” Mark mumbles to himself as Jaemin points to the handle of the door and then mimes an opening motion, looking frantically over his shoulder every few seconds.

“He needs us to let him out.” Jeno clocks, and Mark swears.

“Raise the fence.” He says.

Shoving Mark aside, Donghyuck lowers himself. “I’m smaller.”

Mark just looks at him for a second, before remembering that there isn’t time to question and helping Jeno to raise the fence.

He’s right. He slips under in seconds and is already sprinting across the garden to the backdoor.

“Fuck.” Mark says as he and Jeno watch Donghyuck fiddle with the door latch, Jaemin frantically trying to give him instruction from the other side of the glass.

The hallway light turns on.

After a couple of endless seconds, Jaemin is free, and both him and Donghyuck are sprinting across the lawn.

“Yes.” Jeno breathes.

From somewhere behind the two boys, a loud dog’s bark fills the air.

Mark swears again as the two boys speed up. The kitchen light turns on and a loud man’s voice shouts, “hey!”

“Get the fence!” Mark doesn’t even bother to be quiet.

Jeno’s arms protest as they lift the fence once more, and he begs them not to give out.

“Get back here!” The man shouts, and the dog takes initiative and starts running after Jaemin and Donghyuck.

They’ve got the lead though, thank God.

Jaemin slips under a fraction of a second before Hyuck, and jumps to his feet. He looks ready to bolt.

“Let’s go.” Jaemin grabs Mark by the arm and tries to tear away right as Donghyuck’s slipping under the fence.

“Wait!” Mark calls but it’s too late, his grip slips from the fence and it falls.

“Shit!” Hyuck cries, trying to scramble out of the way. Jeno panics and holds his side up with one hand, using the other to yank Hyuck towards him.

He hears fabric tearing and Hyuck swears loudly again, but he’s sprawled on his back and free from the fence so Jeno just grabs his arms and pulls him to his feet. Mark and Jaemin are already sprinting towards the car.

The dog has made it to the fence, barking and scratching at the dirt to find a way under.

As soon as he stands Hyuck lets out a yelp of pain and staggers to his right, colliding with Jeno. Jeno grabs him and swings one of his arms over his shoulder, wraps his around Hyuck’s waist. Almost carrying him.

From the house, he hears the man shout again. “Jaemin!?”

They run, Jeno basically pulling Hyuck along and trying to ignore the pained whimper he makes with every step. They don’t move very fast, because Hyuck is basically staggering, but they breeze past the gate and make it halfway across the field before slowing down to a careful walk.

“Are you okay?” Jeno asks, breathless from running.

“My leg.” Hyuck hisses out. “Fucking hurts. I think it’s cut.”

“Shit.” Jeno gives his waist a squeeze in what he hopes is comfort. “This is fucked.”

“It’s okay.” Hyuck meets his eye with a pained grin. “I got my tetanus shot last year.”

“Donghyuck.” Jeno says.

“Alright, jeez.” He feels Hyuck shrug. “Just trying not to freak out about the potential huge hole in my leg that’s all.”

“You’ll be fine.” Jeno says automatically. “I can patch you up in the car.”

“Thanks Dad.” Donghyuck sighs, sagging into Jeno’s side a little, he gives another reassuring squeeze.

They spot the others first. Mark and Jaemin are hanging around the car like nervous moths, waiting for the other two to show up. Jaemin’s biting his nails.

Mark is the first to notice them in the darkness, and visibly pales as he sees Hyuck is limping. He jogs over and slots himself under Hyuck’s other arm.

“What happened?” He whispers, like he’s asking a private question.

“Fucking fence stabbed me a bit.” Donghyuck tries to joke.

“Shit Hyuckie, I’m so sorry.” Mark says, and it looks like he doesn’t notice the nickname slip out.

“Shut up.” Donghyuck sighs weakly, bopping his head lightly against Mark’s to punctuate his words. “Not your fault.”

They help him back to the car, opening the door to the backseat. Donghyuck sprawls across the seats carefully, wincing as his leg bangs against the side of the car. Jeno leans over him into the front to turn on the car, and the inside light flickers on.

“Fuuuck.” Donghyuck says as soon as he spots the red staining on his jeans. “For fucks sake.”

Jeno scrambles back out of the car and assesses the damage.

It’s not as bad as it looks, which is great because it looks really bad. A large segment of the fabric on his left leg is ripped just below the knee, exposing a long stretch of Hyuck’s calf that’s covered in blood.

“Mark.” Jeno says, and Mark takes a second to tear his eyes from Donghyuck. “Grab my work shirt out of the passenger footwell, there should be a bottle of water in the side of the door.”

He nods before rushing away.

“It’s not too bad Hyuck.” Jeno says, crouching down to examine the injury more closely. It’s a long cut but it doesn’t look too deep.

“These jeans were forty quid you asshole.” Donghyuck frowns down at him. “I literally got them like two weeks ago.”

Mark comes back with the shirt and the water, passing them both to Jeno. He opens the bottle and pours some of the water onto the shirt.

“This might sting.” Jeno warns and Hyuck groans.

“What the fuck was that!” He sighs. “What kind of backdoor locks from the fucking outside? Not very safe is it!”

“It’s to keep the dogs in during the day.” Jaemin mumbles from behind Jeno, startling him a little. He’d almost forgotten him, hovering nervously.

“Why the fuck was it locked at night then!” Hyuck glares at Jaemin’s shrug. “I swear to god if I get blood poisoning because of you -”

“Hey.” Jeno interrupts, pressing the wet rag against the cut and effectively shutting Hyuck up. “Remember when Chenle fell down Turner’s Hill?”

Hyuck takes a couple of seconds to process the question, and relents, sighing weakly.

“Yeah, fucking moron was trying to run away from a bee, he landed in the skatepark.”

Jeno tries not to wince as he cleans, the blood flow doesn’t stop. “Remember that kid cycled over his hand by accident, and he thought it was going to fall off?”

“Yeah.” Hyuck gives a soft laugh. “His hand bled for like five minutes and he wanted to go to A&E.”

“Renjun patched him up, right?” Jeno ties his shirt around Hyuck’s leg, keeping a firm pressure on the wound.

Jeno looks up, and Hyuck gives him a watery smile. “Right.”

“How about we go see Renjun?”

Hyuck leans his head back against the seat, and laughs again. “He’s going to fucking kill us.”

Yeah, probably.

 

**nofunallowed**  
    @moomin you still up?  
**moomin**  
    no  
**nofunallowed**  
    were coming over  
**moomin**  
    tf you are  
    im in my fuckin pjs  
**nofunallowed**  
    [img]  
**moomin**  
    whAT THE HELL IS THAT HYUCK?  
**lilasshole**  
    hey this is like when i fell down turners hill  
**moomin**  
    lee jeno what the FUCK did you do


End file.
